To fully understand Saint Agnes Medical Center's mission, it is important to explain our beginnings. In 1841, Father Basil Moreau founded the Sisters of the Holy Cross in LeMans, France. Two years later, four sisters came to the United States to provide nursing and domestic services to the newly created College of Notre Dame (now Notre Dame University).

Over the years, the Sisters expanded their service into education and nursing - working in schools, orphanages, and hospitals in several states. By the 1860s, 80 Sisters of the Holy Cross had served as nurses and administrators in six U.S. hospitals in Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville and Paducah, Kentucky; Saint Louis and Franklin, Missouri; Cairo and Mound City, Illinois; and Washington, D.C. Holy Cross Sisters also volunteered as the first Navy nurses during the Civil War, serving on the hospital ship, Red Rover. There they cared for up to 1,400 patients, including many prisoners of war.